Check in
A check in can be useful at the start of each meeting as an alignment of expectations. Here you will take turns to check in by briefly sharing your expectations for the meeting. No answers are more correct than others. The purpose is to get a sense of what is important for each of you to get out of the meeting.
Ask a question or two and don’t use more than approx. a minute per member.
Examples of questions:
- Say two things that you would like to get an answer to during today’s meeting?
- What do you hope to take away from today’s meeting?
- What do you find most important to get done/get an answer to during today’s meeting?
It will be great for the purpose of the exercise if you arrange yourself in a circle – either sitting or standing – so that everyone has the opportunity to see each other. If you are standing, feel free to step into the center of the circle when you do your check in and remain there afterwards. There doesn’t need to be a specific order – whoever wants to present can step into the circle. At the end of the exercise, everyone stands inside the circle.
You can also write down your expectations on a post-it or a flip chart, so you can revisit them later during the meeting.
Check out
The check out can be used at the end of the meeting as a short evaluation. Here you can share your reflections, ideas and thoughts with each other. By doing so you get to share and collect the most important points from the meeting and get a sense of, what everyone is taking away from the meeting. No answers are more correct than others.
Ask a question or two and do not use more than approx. a minute per member.
Examples of questions:
- What is the most important point from today’s meeting?
- Say two things you find important from today’s meeting or still lack answers to?
- Is there something you think should be different on the next meeting?
- Say two points of learning from today’s meeting
If you did a check in, you could have a conversation about how your expectations with the meeting were met.